Small Caps, Smart Prices

When Tom Wetherald graduated from St. Lawrence University in 1993, he considered an academic life related to his major in political philosophy. But he needed to support himself, and the unemployment rate was a seemingly stratospheric 7.3%. So he took a break from St. Augustine, and accepted a job at Chase Manhattan as an analyst.

Today, Wetherald, 40, manages the $1.5 billion MFS New Discovery A Fund (ticker: MNDAX), which consists of about 125 stocks. As of July 27, it was up 31.43% for the trailing year, outpacing its benchmark,...